Freight operations depend on information.
A customs team needs better product details before confirming a classification. An operator is waiting for a missing document from a supplier. A sales team needs to prepare an accurate freight quote and ensure the agreed pricing reaches operations without being entered again.
Individually, these may look like routine tasks. At scale, however, researching products, chasing information, preparing quotes, and transferring data between teams can consume significant operational time.
The September 2026 CargoWise updates address these everyday gaps with three notable capabilities: the AI-powered Product Research Agent, Smart Auto Request Agent, and enhanced Quote Management.
Together, they point towards a more connected approach where CargoWise does more of the research, coordination, and information handling around the operator, while keeping important decisions with the people responsible for them.
What Changes When Product Research Happens Inside CargoWise?
Tariff classification often begins with incomplete information.
A commercial invoice might contain only a brief description, product code, or supplier name. But customs professionals may need much more before making a classification decision, including what the product is made from, what it does, and its technical specifications.
Traditionally, finding those details can mean moving outside the customs workflow and searching manufacturer websites, supplier pages, catalogues, and technical data sheets manually.
The new AI-powered Product Research Agent brings that research into CargoWise.
Using information already available from the commercial invoice line and customs declaration, the agent searches relevant supplier and manufacturer websites, product catalogues, and data sheets for information that can support classification.
Once the research is completed, CargoWise can populate the invoice line with a product summary, structured attributes, and the sources supporting the findings.
Teams can also see which lines have sufficient research and which still require additional information.
Importantly, the operator remains responsible for the final classification decision.
Can AI Research Work Across Larger Commercial Invoices?
Product research becomes particularly demanding when an invoice contains dozens of different products.
Researching every line individually can quickly become a significant workload.
CargoWise addresses this by allowing Product Research Agent research to be initiated for a single invoice line or up to 100 lines in one run, with each line researched and assessed separately.
There is another connection that makes this update particularly useful.
Once product information has been confirmed, it can feed directly into the Classification Assistant.
That gives the assistant richer product context when supporting tariff classification, potentially improving classification accuracy while reducing the number of additional questions required to identify the goods correctly.
The workflow therefore becomes more connected:
Invoice information → Product research → Structured product details → Classification assistance → Human classification decision
Instead of product research sitting outside the customs process, it becomes part of it.
What Happens When CargoWise Still Needs More Information?
AI research cannot find everything.
A technical specification may exist only with the manufacturer. A declaration may need to come directly from the customer. A required document could be sitting with another party involved in the shipment.
This is where another September update becomes relevant.
The Smart Auto Request Agent is designed to turn missing information into a structured request process.
When CargoWise identifies that additional information is required, the agent can raise a request for the specific answer or document needed.
For example, Product Research Agent may need additional technical information when available sources do not provide enough detail to identify a product. ComplianceWise may require further information to assess a potential compliance risk.
Rather than leaving an operator to identify the gap, determine who to contact, compose the request, and repeatedly follow up, the request process can become part of the CargoWise workflow.
Fewer Emails, More Structured Information Collection
One particularly practical aspect of Smart Auto Request Agent is how it handles multiple information gaps.
If several requests need to go to the same recipient, related questions can be combined into a single request rather than sending separate messages every time another missing item is identified.
Customers, suppliers, or other external parties can then respond through CargoWise Neo or through a secure guest link without requiring a CargoWise login.
As information comes back, the responses and supporting documents are captured against the relevant job.
Teams can see:
- What information was requested
- What has already been received
- What remains outstanding
Responses can also be validated during submission, helping identify unsuitable evidence before it reaches the operator for review.
Another useful advantage comes later.
Because the information is captured and retained against the job, the same evidence can potentially be reused where it is required again, reducing repeated requests for information that has already been supplied.
For teams spending significant time chasing emails and documents, that could make information collection considerably more structured.
How is CargoWise Simplifying Freight Quoting?
The September update also moves beyond customs and compliance into the commercial side of freight forwarding.
Preparing a freight quote involves more than entering a selling price.
Sales teams need to understand the customer’s requirements, define the service and routing, find the appropriate rates, add charges, follow approval requirements, issue the quote, and then ensure that the final agreed pricing follows the shipment when it moves into operations.
Quote Management introduces a more guided approach to managing this process within CargoWise.
A consolidated landing page provides visibility across quote activity, including quotes created through Quote Management and existing records from the Quotations module.
Users can search and filter quotes, review their status, and identify items requiring attention from one view.
The goal is not simply to create quotations faster. It is to maintain continuity from the commercial conversation through to operational execution.
From CRM Opportunity to Accepted Client Rate
One of the strongest aspects of Quote Management is the connection between different stages of the sales process.
A quote can be created directly within Quote Management or initiated from a CRM opportunity, with relevant scope information carried across and linked back to that opportunity.
Teams can then define the service, cargo, and routing requirements for each quote scope.
Charges can be entered manually, or eligible rates can be identified through CargoWise Carrier Connect and brought into the quote.
Once prepared, the quotation can follow existing approval controls before being finalised and issued to the customer.
The customer can then either accept the quote or request further discussion.
But the workflow does not stop at acceptance.
Once accepted, the quote can be converted into a client rate, allowing the agreed pricing to support downstream job autorating.
That creates a more connected progression:
Sales opportunity → Quote → Approval → Client acceptance → Client rate → Job autorating
By connecting these stages, CargoWise aims to reduce duplicate entry, strengthen traceability, and maintain greater pricing consistency as work moves from sales into operations.
What Connects these September CargoWise Updates?
At first glance, product research, information requests, and freight quoting address very different parts of logistics.
But they share a common theme.
Much of the administrative workload in freight forwarding happens between the important decisions.
A customs specialist may spend time finding the information needed to make a classification decision.
An operator may spend time chasing someone for a document needed to progress a job.
A salesperson may spend time transferring information between an opportunity, quotation, and operational pricing workflow.
The September CargoWise updates target these connecting tasks.
The Product Research Agent supports research before classification.
The Smart Auto Request Agent structures the collection of missing information.
Quote Management connects commercial requirements and accepted pricing more closely with downstream operations.
Rather than removing people from the process, these capabilities can reduce some of the manual work surrounding the decisions where human expertise still matters.
Getting More from the Latest CargoWise Capabilities
New CargoWise functionality creates opportunities, but the value businesses receive from it depends on how effectively it fits into their existing processes, data, roles, and configurations.
Teams need to understand where automation should begin, what information should flow between workflows, where approvals remain necessary, and how new functionality fits with current operating procedures.
That is where the right implementation and optimisation approach matters.
As a CargoWise Service Partner, Elicit Technology helps freight forwarders understand, configure, and optimize CargoWise capabilities around their operational requirements.
From AI-enabled customs and compliance workflows to automation, quoting, integrations, and wider CargoWise optimization, the goal is not simply to activate another feature.
It is to make the capability work effectively within the operation.
September’s CargoWise updates show a clear direction: less time spent searching, chasing, and re-entering information, and more connected workflows around the people making the decisions.
